#7 Colorado State Fends off #18 Loyola Marymount

Los Angeles, California - The Colorado State Rams' first game of their road trip to California and Utah came and went with a "W". It was a close one, but the Rams were able to pull away in the fourth quarter for a final score of 9-8.

The Loyola Marymount Lions gave Colorado State a battle when they scored six straight goals in the first half, but the Rams fought back and outscored the Lions in the second half. "It wasn't our most cleanly played game, but we showed great heart to come back and win this one," according to interim coach Alex Smith. "We don't want to give up six goals in a row to anyone, that's for sure."

Colorado State got on the scoreboard first after goals by Paul Larson (Columbine HS; CO), two from Cooper Kehoe (Stevenson HS; CA), and another by Matt Jui (Columbine HS; CO) before LMU responded with their six goal first half. Kehoe was able to score his third and final goal of the game shortly before the half, allowing the Rams to head into halftime down by only one.

Larson led the scoring effort for the Rams in the second half, putting his two other goals past the LMU goalie, with Garrett Fugier (Regis Jesuit HS; CO) and Joel Tromburg (Heritage HS; CO) scoring the other two.

Sophomore face-off midfielder Scott Gelston's (Air Academy; CO) effort on face-offs helped give the Rams the extra possessions later in the game to put them on top and stay there. Gelston won 14 of 16 face-offs against LMU.

It was an evenly matched game for the goalies as Alex Jacques (Bainbridge Island HS; CO) had 13 saves for the Rams against 33 shots, while Thomas Holman totaled 12 for the Lions, also against 33 shots.

Next up for the Rams on their road trip is #23 Claremont College Cougars in Claremont, California. It will be another tough game for the Rams, and they will have to be mentally and physically ready.

"For whatever reason, we just weren't very sharp mentally," reflected Smith. "That's something we will have to improve on as this trip continues. No one has won both games of a back to back that we've been involved with all season. Tomorrow will be a test for us as we get another chance at a ranked team."